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Thursday, May 30, 2013

My Notes

I would have uploaded all my public administration and history notes last year itself in October but I couldn't find a scanner. Only a few days back I found one and I thank Mr. Pranesh who patiently scanned hundreds of pages.

Second Administrative Reforms Commission reports' notes (2nd ARC reports)

World History notes

Miscellaneous topics in Indian history
(Only for people with History optional)

History maps
(Only for people with History optional)

I will upload few more things when time permits and I will share them in this post itself.

Friday, May 24, 2013

Hobson's Choice

Final results of CSE 2012 were declared on 3rd of this month. I got a rank of 217 and I will be allotted Indian Police Service when the service allocation is done in July or August. No chance of any other service. So there ends my childhood dream of becoming IAS officer. I never ever thought even in my wildest dreams that I will wear khaki dress in my life. I dont have any choice now. Not that I am unhappy but I am not jumping with joy.

UPSC declared marks a few days back and as usual UPSC ruined chances of many people including me because of it's flawed normalisation system and flawed evaluation process full of subjectivity. I got 115 n essay, 115 + 115 in GS, 48 + 124 in PA, 99 + 147 in History, 220 in interview. In total 983. 30-32 marks more and I would be allotted IAS.

I wonder how I can get so low marks in PA1 when I was expecting above average marks relatively speaking. And I feel the average is around 75-80 marks in PA1 which in itself is very low when compared to Sociology, Economics, Commerce, Literature (especially Malyalam, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada), Chemistry etc. PA is worst hit among all the optionals with people getting even single digit marks in PA1. On an average PA candidates are awarded 70 to 80 marks less than what candidates with Sociology or Economics or Commerce or Literature optionals are awarded. So your selection and rank depended upon the optionals you chose rather than your worth. I curse my stars as I didnt take Sociology or Economics instead of PA. I was good in both of them.

I was expecting far better marks in GS1 than in GS2 but I got same marks in both! What is the probability that I get 115 in 3 papers? How on earth! As if I am given that number deliberately by UPSC. Even though the marks I got in PA2 and History1&2 are above average relatively speaking, I was expecting far better marks, especially in History1. This is what I wrote after CSM 12. You can see what my expectations were.

You can also see from the above link that there is a strong correlation between my handwriting and marks I got. I mentioned in that post that my handwriting in PA1 was bad and in History1 it was not good at all. I also mentioned that my handwriting in Essay was excellent. Incidentally I got worst marks in PA1, bad marks in history1 and excellent marks in Essay. I am happy because the notion which I long held that 'UPSC examiners who evaluate our answersheets are stupid and handwriting not the actual content is the deciding factor' is vindicted.

I got good marks, 220, in interview which saved the day for me. If I got only above average marks of around 175, I would have been out of the final list. I should thank Rajni Razdan for being reasonable and rational and for giving me what is due to me. You can read here my interview transcript and my expectations from the interview.

This exam is a grand lottery and if your stars and planets are aligned in correct positions, you will be in the list even if you are an idiot. And that saying 'allah meharban to gadha pehalwan' is apt for this exam. I always held that there is little correlation between the marks we get and the subject knowledge we have, what we write and the way we write in the exam. Many people came to me after the results are out to seek guidance. They didnt know my marks in PA1 at that time. :-) I dont have a surefire formula for scoring marks. No one can have, not even the first ranker. I dont know how to get good marks but what I know is how to study, what to study, how to write the answers well.

I will share scanned copies of all my notes which includes 2nd ARC reports, World History, mapping in history etc with in the next 10 days. I wanted to share the notes immediately after Mains but I couldnt find a scanner. Only today I found a scanner.

PS: I have taken down some 30 odd political posts on the blog keeping in mind neutrality of Weberian bureaucracy which my future job demands. So if you are reading my interview transcript and didnt find the posts I mentioned in my answers in the interview, dont think that I lied in the interview. :-)